David and Goliath

By: Serhii Plokhy

Published by Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, 2025-09-09

The biblical image of David and Goliath captures fittingly the nature of the war that Russia, the world’s largest country by surface area, unleashed on neighboring Ukraine, a country that―while still the largest on the European continent―is almost thirty times smaller and has only over a quarter of Russia’s population. Yet Ukraine’s stubborn resistance proves that it is possible to mount a successful defense against an enormously larger, more populous, and better equipped enemy, even despite its threats of nuclear apocalypse should Ukraine refuse to submit and the West dare to interfere. This volume shows that history can help reveal the reasons for Ukraine’s resolve and success on the battlefield and in the public arena.<br/><br/>Collected in David and Goliath for the first time are short essays, commentaries, and interviews written and given by Serhii Plokhy, the world’s preeminent scholar of Ukrainian history, on the eve and during the first two years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Plokhy draws our attention to the unique nature of the truly historic events of the largest war in Europe since the end of World War II.